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Singlehanded Fleet Finishing Up

After Bela Bartok‘s unfortunate abandonment early yesterday morning, 22 boats remain in the Singlehanded TransPac fleet, the last five of which will be finishing the race in the next two days. After Turbo Camper and Green Buffalo swept into lush Hanalei Bay on Friday, the bulk of the racers decided the Race Committee — including this editor — needed to earn their ‘vacation’ on Kauai and staged their arrivals one right after the other at all hours of the day and night.

Al Germain’s Wyliecat 30 Bandicoot had a beautiful sunset finish on Saturday, arriving just in time for ‘tree time’ on the beach with the rest of the skippers.

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Late Saturday night, Ronnie Simpson on his Moore 24 Hope for the Warriors arrived 42 minutes before Peter Heiberg on his Palmer Johnson 50 Scaramouche, and late last night George Lythcott aboard his Express 27 TAZ!! led the way for Mike Jefferson on his Garcia Passoa 47 Mouton Noir, who came in 48 minutes later.

At Friday’s tree time, (l to r) Brian VanderZanden (Turbo Camper), Jim Quanci (Green Buffalo) and Alex Mehran (Truth) discuss their races.

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©2012 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

As amazing as those close finishes are for a 2,000-mile ocean race, they’re nothing compared to what had come earlier. Brian Boshma on his Olson 34 Red Sky and Jerome Sammarcelli on the Pogo 2 Mini Team Open Sailing tied with Cliff Shaw on the Crowther 10m Rainbow and Dave Morris on the custom Wylie 31 Moonshadow for the closest finishes in TransPac history. Red Sky crossed the line four minutes ahead of Team Open Sailing on Saturday with Rainbow and Moonshadow following suit the next morning!

Peter Heiberg (Scaramouche) and Ronnie Simpson (Hope for the Warriors) were thrilled to get “lei’d” in Hanalei.

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© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

As happy as each skipper was to be greeted with a lei and their drink of choice, it almost seemed as if their families were even happier, as evidenced by the following photos. We’ll have a final update on the race in Wednesday’s ‘Lectronic, as well as the August issue of Latitude 38, but in the meantime, catch the final finishes on the race’s website.

Brian VanderZanden – the second skipper to finish the race – gets a smooch from Mom, Lorna, upon arrival on Friday.

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© Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Adrian Johnson (Idefix) is flanked by his proud parents, Jeff and Sylvie.

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© Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Jerome Sammarcelli, the guy sailing the smallest boat in the fleet, the 21-ft Pogo 2 Team Open Sailing, had one of the biggest hearts, which he shares with his wife Alisha and son Luca.

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© Latitude 38 Media, LLC

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If you’re looking for an excuse to ditch work this week, we suggest you sneak out the back door, head down to your boat and go witness the departure of the 2012 Pacific Cup fleet.
After crossing 3,000 miles of open ocean en route to French Polynesia, it’s only natural that sailors would want to get together and socialize.